The wind blows my hair. I’m standing on the edge again. Although this time it is not to wave off my family from the docks, this time it is the end of my journey.

Beneath me lies the swirling depths of the North Ocean. It calls to me and storms my thoughts with crashing waves. On the water’s surface rages a reflection of the ship as it descends into the sea’s icy fist.

But now the ship is crumbling, groaning as if it cannot believe its own fall. The ocean surges higher, swallowing everything - swallowing us.

Above, the ship is a terrifying blaze. Dancing flames of red and orange encompass everything I see. The spitting embers shoot down at the deck, whirling in great billows of smoke that suffocate the ship and storm my throat. _Breathe_. I can’t breathe.

The smoke claws at my lungs with the ferocity of a crazed animal. It chokes me, clogs my throat, but I inhale anyway, desperate for air. Ash and its bitter taste stings my tongue.

Clutching at the handrail, my chest tightens. The ship lurches with a shriek which throws me off balance. I stumble, my feet slipping on the slick deck, but I catch myself and grab onto the rail. The biting wind cuts through my clothes and stings at my skin as the ship groans again, its great metal frame bending under the weight of its sinking.

In the distance, I see them—the lifeboats. Small, fragile things bobbing like distant stars on the dark sea, miles out of my reach. I try to call out but my voice is drowned by the ship’s roar.

The bitter cold has gnawed its way into my bones, with the smoke swamping my chest, and the terror of it all is too much. I close my eyes for a moment, and in the darkness, I think of the stars—how they seemed so distant. But now they watch over me, twinkling gently from above. I focus on them as my chest strains and my lungs scream for air.

As the ships final, desperate shudder shakes me, I take a trembling breath. The sea pulls me in one last time, I let go, and the stars above seem to glow brighter, as if to welcome me.